Process of mixing silk and artificial silk



Patented July 530, was.

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PROCESS 0E MRING $114K AND ABTWICKAL SEX.

Io Drawing. Application filed March 2, 1837, Serial E0. 17%,208. Renewed Jane M, 1928.

This invention relates to the production of a fabric from a mixture of animal and vegetable fibers, e. g. natural and artificial sllk fibers.

The principal object of the invention is to mix the two kinds of fibers before they are spun or even in condition for spinning, so that the fibers themselves are intimately intermingled in the resulting yarn in such a way as to bring out a cross dye effect when the product is dyed. I

The invention has for one of its advantages the fact that woven fabric can be manu fac tured from the mixed fibers of the two kinds and dyed after it is woven, the dye taklng efi'ect evenly on the two kinds of fibers and producing new and beautiful efiects on account of the fact that the individual fibers with the separate effects are so finely intermingled.

Another, object of the invention is to provide for changing the relative length of the fibers by introducing the step of breakmg the long fibered natural silk while it is lntermlnled with and surrounded by the shorter bered artificial silk, in such a way that the silk fiber will retain its position in the stock and be held in place by the artificial silk which surrounds it and prevents its be ng materially displaced in the sliver 1n which it is located and to accomplish this wlthout danger of breaking the artificial silk fibers.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear hereinafter.

As stated, this invention relates to the mlxing of two kinds of fiber. It 1s well known that real silk and artificial silk do not take colors in dyein in just the same way. Some colors the arti cial silk does not ta e at all, while in the same dye the real silk will be colored perfectly. I take advantage of that fact in this process to produce a am not made up of twisted fibers of arti c al s1lk combined with twisted fibers of real sllk, but made up with an intermingling of the two kinds of fiber in their early stage of manufacture before they approach the form of yarn in any way.

On account of this intimate and mlnute mixture, the yarn produced can be woven in any ordinary way and subjected to dyeing. The dyeing will have the same efiect on each individual fiber as it would if the cloth were made entirely of that, but the efiect on the cloth is very materially changed. Different shades and even difierent colors are imparted to the two kinds offibers in the same vat, and the result is not a mixture of the two shades or colors in the ordinar sense: that is, they cannot be distinguishe from each other in the fabric, but the result is difierent from either one. This is an important advantage of the invention.

In carrying out the invention, I put into a carding machine a mixture of real silk, as for example, in the form of schappe, and artificial stable fiber in whatever proportion ma be desired, as for example, 40% of real sil and of artificial silk or one part silk to two parts artificial silk. These fabrics are operated upon in the usual way and produce a sliver which consists of two kinds of fibers mixed intimately together, and of comparati vely uniform a pearance throughout. Ordmarily the art-i cial silk is in lengths of approximately an inch and a half while the schappe silk, if that is used, is in lengths of four inches or thereabout.

Such a combination cannot be spun, and for that purpose I introduce the lap into a breaking machine which consists of two pairs of rolls supported at a distance apart equal to or greater than the length of the artificial silk fiber, whatever that may be, and run the front rolls faster than the rear rolls. For safety an additional pair of rolls can be used having the same relationship to the first pair as that has to the other. The result of this is that the commingled fibers are subjected to a pulling action between the rolls of adjacent pairs, but this pulling action can have noefiect on the artificial silk fibers because they are not long enough to have both ends in the bight of the two pairs or rolls at the same time. On the contrary the real silk fibers are long enough and they are broken apart by the pull, but when they are broken apart they are surrounded by and intermingled with artificial silk to such an extent that they cannot crinkle up and contract, and they are carried along in an uninterrupted manner throughout the process.

This sliver is then passed through other machinery, such as is commonly used in the silk industry or even in the cotton industry, and finally through any desired kind of a spinning machine and spun into uniform yarn from which either the warp or the weft, or both, of a fabric can be made. This fabric, as stated, is capable of being dyed in the manner specified, and novel and beautiful results are obtained from it.

Although I have described a particular method of carrying out the process of subjecting the two kinds of fiber to the several processes necessarily involved and the particular order of steps, I am aware of the fact that some changes can be made in the order and number of steps employed without departing from the scope of the invention as expressed in the claims. Therefore, I do not wish to be limited in these respects, but

What I do claim is 1. The method of making a fabric which consists in mixing about one part of 'schappe silk with two parts of artificial silk, carding the mixture, breaking the schappe silk fibers when surrounded by artificial silk fibers spinning the mixture, weaving the yarn and dyeing it in the piece.

2. The method of preparing yarn for s inning, which consists in mixing short arti cial silk fibers with longer natural silk fibers, carding the mixture and producing therefrom a sliver, subjecting the sliverto a drawing action in which the points at which the sliver is gripped are farther apart than the length of the artificial silk fibers but less than that of the natural silk fibers, so as to break the natural silk fibers without breaking the artificial silk fibers, and thereafter spinning the product.

3. As a new product a composite yarn consist-ing of intimately intermingled schappe silk fibers and short artificial silk fibers, in which the schappe silk fibers have been broken when surrounded by the artificial silk fibers in the sliver to a length not greater than the length of the artificial silk fibers.

4. Asa new product a composite yarn consisting of intimately intermingled natural silk fibers and short artificial silk fibers, in which the natural silk fibers have been broken when surrounded by artificial silk fibers in the sliver to a length not greater than the length of the artificial silk fibers.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto affixed my signature.

MEINRAD F. THOMA. 

